Transport sector gears up for festival travel

Transport departments across China will take epidemic prevention measures during the 40-day Spring Festival travel rush to contain the spread of COVID-19, officials said.

With the number of trips expected to rise significantly during the rush, railway and civil aviation authorities said during a news conference on Jan 15 that they will increase passenger capacity and pay more attention to transport from and to mediumand high-risk areas for COVID-19.

The travel rush, the largest human migration in the world, also known as chunyun, started on Jan 17 and will end on Feb 25. The rush is expected to see 1.18 billion passenger trips — a year-on-year increase of 35.6 percent, though still down 60.4 percent compared with 2019, said Zhou Min, deputy director of the Ministry of Transport’s emergency control office.